(Canada, 108 min.)
Written and directed by Philippe Falardeau
Starring:
Patrick Huard, Suzanne Clément, Irdens Exantus, Clémence-Dufresne-Deslières
Programme: Contemporary World Cinema (North American
Premiere)
 |
| Photo: Ronald Plant / Les Films Seville |
Philippe Falardeau goes to war in the incisively sharp
comedy My Internship in Canada. The
film, which stars suave Québécois everyman Patrick Huard (Starbuck, Mommy) as Steve Guibord, a hockey player turned MP, opens
with a satirical disclaimer that it depicts true events that have not yet
happened, and the droll warning shows how well this comedy has its finger on
Canada’s cultural pulse. Stephen Harper has irreparably changed the face of
Canada during his reign and Falardeau knows that the best course of action is
to recognize our faults, laugh at them, and then collectively ask where to go
from there. If the next step is war, Guibord brings the fuel like Canadian
politicians take a pie to the face.
Guibord, an independent MP in
the remote Quebec riding of Prescott-Makadewà-Rapides-aux Outardes (say that
three times fast), becomes the swing vote in a poll to send Canada to war when a
fellow MP of the reigning party can't cast a vote because she's in the hospital
recovering from a botched boob job. Falardeau humorously plays Guibord's hockey
smarts in a locker room powwow with the MP and his keen Haitian intern
Sovereign (Irdens Exantus) as they check the players on the rink wipe board.
The puck drops when Guibord's hockey catches up with him as press come sniffing
after the story. Like hockey players, some politicians ramble nonsense in the
locker room, and a few tips from wingman Sovereign foolheartedly inspire Guibord
to call the opportunity a “window to democracy” and declare that he'll consult
his entire constituency before voting. It's nice to see that democracy still
lives in Canada, even if only in a fictional one.
My Internship in
Canada follows the reliable formula that says comedy ensues as more
characters enter the picture. With a vast constituency, Guibord faces a war of
his own trying to navigate the townships and meet his constituents. Facing a
roadblock from the Algonquins, a roadblock from the truckers to protest the
roadblock, and another roadblock from miners who'd profit from a war, Guibord
draws from contemporary Canadian episodes like the Idle No More movement as
Guibord empathizes with his First Nations constituents.
Among the other fighting factions Guibord faces are the
divisions in his own home. His wife, Suzanne (Suzanne Clément), encourages him
to vote in favour of the war, while his daughter, Clémence-Dufresne-Deslières,
refuses to be the girl who helped send her generation to the front line. The
different attitudes are a microcosm of the larger national debate at which
Guibord find himself at the centre. This is Canada, though, so hockey unites
the trips as they put aside their differences to scream at the game on TV.
The film marks a return to Falardeau's provincial comedies
like Congorama and It's Not Me, I Swear!, and while the
jokes sometimes play broader, Internship
puts the director in his element with regionally inflected satire that
questions Quebec's something isolation. The film will inevitably play better
with Canadian audiences than with international ones since the film features a
smorgasbord of spot-on observations and nuances shaped from Canadian politics
both past and present. Take Guibord’s quick retort of “Just watch me,” for
example, as a nod to former PM Pierre Trudeau when it comes to finding a good
maple-syrup-laced zinger to capture the absurd complacency of Canadian
politics. Canada often struggles to produce sharp and funny comedies, especially
those that have a distinct Canadian flavour, but My Internship in Canada is arguably the most politically charged satire
to hit the mark in years. The film really has its finger on the pulse of the
Canadian climate, and Falardeau’s funny and bold script riotously tackles the
old Canada and new Canada.
Equally bold and sharp is the film's take on Canada's
current leader and troublesome majority party. The film doesn't even need to explicitly name the Conservatives as the fascistic, war-seeking party in
power, especially since it does so by implication by putting the Liberals as the Opposition.
(Add an extra lol for a film that gives an NDP majority!) Particularly effective in sticking it to the Tories is the puffy faced Prime Minister who exploits Guibord's relationship
with the Algonquins to bribe him to vote in his favour. This pasty politico is
a dead ringer for Stephen Harper, especially with the droll performance by Paul
Doucet that echoes Herr Harper's stiffness, lameness, pastiness, and snakiness.
He's a fine foil among many in the zany cast of characters against whom Guibord
battles.
The film finds an even better leader in Huard, who gives his
funniest performance yet as Guibord. Huard isn’t afraid to play the fool as
Guibord resembles a hockey-hosing everyman who puts his foot in his mouth more
often than Canadians scarf down poutine. The actor brings a flawed humanity to
Guibord that too few politicians are afraid to show and his relatable, likable
everyman is a hero with a giant heart. Clément is strong, too, as Suzanne, who
impassionedly takes an active role in Guibord’s county-wide campaign and
rallies both the humour and the heft of the film.
Extanus a highlight of the ensemble and is lots of fun as
Sovereign, under whose aid Guibord flourishes during the titular internship.
The actor plays the Haitian sensation with a wide, infectious smile and desire
to please, and he’s a likable outside who highlights the absurdity of the
Canadian political circus. My Internship
in Canada adds an amusing thread in which Sovereign explains the idiosyncrasies
of Canadian politics to his village back home via Skype, and the thread carries
the Falardeau stamp of Congorama and Monsieur Lazhar that plays with the
fascination of encounters between the Québécois and the other.
Falardeau makes My
Internship in Canada a sweet and funny caper as Guibord and Sovereign make
the long trek to Ottawa in a farcical and very
Canadian trek. An amusing score of kettledrums adds a lark of jungle rhythm to
Guibord’s zany ride around the country—and provides a charming endnote to the
film when the band takes the stage in Haiti. This laugh a minute farce is grand
entertainment—and essential viewing before this October’s election.
Rating: ★★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
My Internship in Canada screens in Ottawa at The Mayfair beginning Nov. 6.
Please visit www.tiff.net for more
information on this year’s festival.
More coverage on this year’s festival can be found here.
